Learning to sing vocal harmony will take time and effort, but with these five tips you can be well on your way to excellence in singing backup.

1. Get Basic Knowledge of Chord structure
What exactly is vocal harmony? All basic chords are built on three notes played together. If you take a root or tonic chord, the first chord in any given scale, it is built on the first, third, and fifth notes in that scale. If you consider four part vocal harmony, you could add the seventh note of the scale for even more variety. There is also the fourth and sixth note to consider.

Singing vocal harmonies requires ear training and a basic knowledge of how chords are structured. Some seem to have a natural ability, but it is really just a matter of being able to separate different vocal phrases that are sung together. When you pay attention to the notes that ride above or below the melody, usually in intervals of thirds and fifths, you are listening to the harmonies. Consider taking a class on the theory of music.

2. Learn Basic Piano
If you have access to a piano or can sight-read music, it becomes easier to identify the notes on the keyboard and then build harmonies to match. If you can plunk out the melody of a song, you can eventually learn to hear and sing a third, fourth or fifth interval above or below the main melody, it is a good place to start. The piano will help you all of your life with the visualization of music theory, so enjoy it.

3. Learn to listen to the other voices
How do you develop an ear for vocal harmony? Listen, experiment, and learn. One of the best ways to study harmonies is to listen to popular music that use vocals and try to pick out the other vocal lines being sung around the melody. The choruses of songs often add vocal harmonies to broaden the sound.

You will be able to hear when you are singing in tune with a harmonized phrase, it will sound pleasing to your ears. Most singers have learned basic music theory, so they may be able to do this naturally.

4. Find a partner to sing vocal harmony with.
It does help if you have at least one other person to sing vocal harmony with, so that you can play off each others voices, or switch off between the melody and a harmony that you practice together.

It is worth noting that certain voices blend better than others do, and that it is important to be comfortable in the range you intend to sing for a harmony part. If some of the notes required in your vocal harmony are beyond you, you can either transpose the music to a different key, or make alterations to the places you have difficulty.

The more you sing harmony, the more you instill good pitch and your ability to pick up the different lines being sung improves. There are few other requirements for learning to sing vocal harmony, as they say, practice makes perfect.

As you become more familiar with what sounds good, you will develop a vocal harmony line that flows naturally within your vocal range. If you are in a vocal group, you can always ask your group leader or a private vocal coach to emphasize vocal harmony in your training, until it becomes second nature to you.

5. Join a singing group
If you enjoy singing vocal harmony, you can find other singers to join in an acapella group, chorus, barbershop quartet, or similar group of voices to experiment with and develop your harmonizing skills. All colleges have community choirs and it is really fun too. Do not worry about being inexperienced, most people are like you too, they just love to sing. Bluegrass, spiritual, folk, and country music are all good choices for creating beautiful harmonies that you can practice either alone or together with your musical friends.

How Can I Improve My Singing Voice – Use My Computer to Improve My Vocals?

Your computer – is it the solution to your issue “how can I improve my singing voice”? The response may amaze you. Have your own at home singing trainer with an incredible software that can be downloaded onto your personal computer.

It is just not needed to use the accepted way of going to numerous singing lessons for those who ask “how can I improve my singing voice”. To those on a tight budget or who have a hectic schedule, this option is not incredibly practical despite its benefits. Also you may spend a lot of time and money with a trainer sorting out very petty issues with your voice instead of going right to what you wish for at once, which is actually improving your vocal sound.

Additionally, there is more to finding the appropriate vocal coach than just selecting someone out of the yellow pages. You may get lucky and the first person you pick is a wonderful fit for you. A coach may be really remarkable but if you do not have a good connection with them your results will not be nearly as fantastic. Finding an instructor whose teaching style is a match to your learning style can be especially difficult. To find the best vocal coach can be an extremely expensive, time consuming and exasperating process.

By using software designed to help you improve your singing voice, you can cut right to the heart of the matter. The software can truly pinpoint what the strengths and weaknesses are for your singing voice. It can advise you what works for you and thus what you should keep doing and what you need to work on and change. This software can help you realize all your singing voice improvement goals and be the complete package for you. Or you can utilize the software to give you a superior foundation prior to taking one on one singing coaching. It’s a wonderful way to deal with negligible concerns you can work out on your own rather than with an instructor to save you time and cash. The option is up to you.

In getting the remedy to “how can I improve my singing voice“, this software has been the solution for a lot of folks. The solution to becoming a better singer at last for many people has come thanks to this software and the ability to utilize it whenever it fits their schedule and for a much lower cost than singing lessons.

Ask any professional athlete and they will stress the importance of a proper warm-up and stretching regime before the start of any strenuous workout. In their own way, singers are athletes, too – vocal athletes. So before you start belting out those show tunes or rock out on a retro Pat Benatar song, you need to warm up your voice. Just as you ease into a hamstring stretch before a gym class, warming up your voice needs to be done in stages. Here are seven techniques to safely and thoroughly warm up your voice.

Relax. Tilt you head to the right while gently lowering your left shoulder. Then tilt your head left while pushing down the right shoulder. Open your mouth and stick your tongue out as far as it will go. Shrug your shoulders, hold then slowly release. Repeat several times.

Get your diaphragm prepared. The diaphragm is located under the lungs and causes them to inflate. To warm up your diaphragm, take some deep breaths and slowly exhale. Concentrate on letting your stomach expand and contract.

Pay attention to your breathing. Take a deep breath, hold it, then exhale in short bursts. Repeat several times. Remember to be mindful of your posture.

Hum. Don’t go for any extreme – stay midrange to start and keep the volume moderate. Don’t hum melodies; hum sounds and do it with your mouth closed.

Perform vocal exercises. Make vowels sounds such as ahhh, ooooh exaggerating your mouth movement.

Do scales. First go slowly, holding each note as long as you can. Then sing up and down a scale, gradually increasing in volume.

Vibrate your lips. Purse your lips and make a motorboat sound so that your lips vibrate.

Singing is an expression of your body so pamper your voice by getting enough sleep, eating right, exercising and staying hydrated. If you take care of yourself, you voice will stay strong and healthy, too.

The Singing Butler is an original oil on canvas oil painting which has become the most reproduced oil painting in the United Kingdom from an artist, old and new. The original was a majestic work featuring a charming couple dancing next to their maid whilst under umbrellas.

A female model was used twice in photographic scenes which were used together to create this oil painting as Vettriano went away to create it in his own time. This was Vettriano’s normal method and offered a clue to his relative modesty, particularly earlier in his career as he was fighting hard for any sign of success.

For those who really respect the charm of The Singing Butler, other Vettriano originals that maybe of interest includeThe Singing Butler and several versions of it which followed, further prints by Vettriano worth checking out are And So to Bed, Bad Boy, Her Secret Life, Just Another Day, Blades, The Temptress, On Parade, Beautiful Dreamer, Queen of Diamonds II, Dance Me to the End of Love, The Billy Boys, Dancer in Emerald, Summer Days, Waltzers, Exit Eden, Good Girl, Suddenly One Summer, A Voyage Of Discovery, Along Came a Spider and finally Dance Me To The End Of Love, The Missing Man II, In Thoughts of You, The Picnic Party II, Mad Dogs, Elegy for a Dead Admiral and Contemplation of Betrayal.

Concluding, The Singing Butler was an original painting which achieved the highest price for any Scottish painting as Jack Vettriano’s career goes from strength to strength.

So you want to scream your brains out, but you don’t want to lose your voice. You wished you could sing some of the classics like Judas Priest’s, “Screaming For Vengeance”, or AC/DC’s, “Back In Black”, and you can’t quite seem to tackle some of your newer favorites like Disturbed’s, “Prayer”, or, Audioslave’s, “Cochise.” There is an art to singing throaty and screaming, which could fill an entire book, but here are a few pointers and one exercise to help you start the task:

The one thing all of the professional singers that I have interviewed seem to agree upon is vocal placement. Vocal placement refers to the focal point of the creation of the vocal sound. All sound is produced in the throat by the vocal cords. But, there is a way to manipulate that sound, so that it feels as if it is being produced in a different spot. If you want to sing throaty, you must find a way to make it feel as if you have moved the sound away from the vocal cords, to prevent from squeezing the sound down in your throat.

Some professionals feel that the sound is being produced below the vocal cords, right on top of the diaphragm. The diaphragm is a muscle along the edges of the lower ribs, right above the stomach. Singers tend to tighten their stomach muscles, adding a little more vocal cord pressure, to get that gruff sound. I personally don’t advise this, because you are adding unnecessary pressure on your vocal cords, but it seems to have worked well for singer’s like Josey Scott of Saliva. If you decide to use this approach, moderation and correct breath technique will help to save your voice.

All the professional singers I have interviewed all agree on the fact that the throat must remain relaxed and open. If you tend to tighten or clench the throat, like grunting, to achieve a throaty sound, you are leading yourself down a path of vocal suicide. To maintain an open and relaxed throat, I want you to yawn. Notice how the back of your throat opens wide and the soft area of the roof of your mouth (soft palate) raises. This allows more room for the sound of your voice to escape and build resonance before leaving your mouth.

What’s resonance? Resonance is the tiny echoes produced from the sound of your voice, from bouncing around inside of your body, and in this case, your open throat and mouth. Resonance is discussed more extensively in my book Raise Your Voice. Singers like David Draiman of Disturbed preach about the importance of an open throat. His sound is felt above his vocal cords as opposed to right on top of the diaphragm, with an open throat as opposed to a tight clenched voice.

As a basis to find that throaty sound, I want you to sustain an “mmmmm” on the lowest, softest sound you can achieve. This sound reminds me of when you wake up in the morning and yawn, but the sound is very low and throaty sounding. This is called a vocal fry. You can actually feel the vocal cords opening and closing as they touch and release. Now, I want you to feel this sound in the roof of your mouth on your soft palate. The soft palate is where you want to focus your screaming.

Another way to get used to feeling the sound in your soft palate, is gargling. Try gargling some water, then try without water. When you can do this, switch between the gargling feeling and a vocal fry, I know that actually screaming a song, like Linkin Park’s, “Crawling”, will take a lot more energy and effort, but you must build from the basics. All vocal technique starts with a basic idea to build upon.

So remember, if you are going to sing throaty, an open throat with the sound of your voice directed up into the soft palate (away from the vocal cords) is the way to go. If you wish to direct the force of your voice down towards the diaphragm, that’s your choice, just be careful not to over tighten the stomach muscles. Believe it or not, screaming isn’t about tension, it’s about relaxation and controlled direction.

Okay, but what about hitting those high notes? Well, if I were making the choice, I’d run and buy Raise Your Voice right now. But, one of the easiest, quickest exercises I have ever found, that has enabled me to scream my ass off, is the “E” scream exercise by vocal coach Jim Gillette.

The “E” scream exercise is a very simple and effective exercise. Begin by sustaining a low volume “e” in falsetto, and slowly swell the sound until it is very loud and buzzing in your head. Start on any pitch that is comfortable for your range, and work your way up in pitch. So, when you do this exercise, it will swell like this in falsetto, “eeeeeeEEEEEE.” This exercise is demonstrated on Jim Gillette’s Vocal Power CD, along with four vocal workouts, designed to develop your voice in stages. I advise you purchase his program to get a better understanding of the exercise. If you wish to purchase the DVD, you can do so at www.metalmethod.com .

Again, this is all just a basis for you to begin saving your voice. I advise using a good warm-up before singing any throaty songs, or any songs for that matter. You can use the basic Vocal Stress Release Program, from free lesson #1 in this series. The full version, with audio files, is available in my book, Raise Your Voice. If you practice these four things; warm up, keep an open throat, direct the sound towards the soft palate, and practice the “E” scream exercise, you will definitely reach your goal faster, while saving your voice.

Jaime Vendera

Author of “Raise Your Voice”, “Mindset: programming Your Mind for Success” and

“Online Teaching Secrets Revealed”

jaimevendera.com

theultimatevocalworkout.com

rocksource360.com

‘Self-Designing’ with the Singing Voice

By Cathryn Robson BA Ho ns, CT ABRSM

www.singshop.co.uk

Close your eyes. Imagine taking a deep breath, opening your mouth and releasing your singing voice. You have no idea what is going to happen next, if you are going to be in tune, singing high, singing low, singing quietly or loudly – or in fact singing at all. Imagine making up this ‘song‘ in the moment, as you go along, with no rules, nobody to guide you and no backing or accompaniment to hide behind.

Sound terrifying? Great! Read on.

The word ‘improvisation‘ will make many of us uneasy. Make that ‘singing improvisation’ and most of those will be struck with a feeling akin to dread. Yet improvisation is something we do regularly. Take a conversation amongst friends for example. Somebody starts it, another adds their bit, someone else changes the subject and so forth. In short, it flows in the moment without predictability. A conversation can be stilted, authentic, full of subtext, captivating or plain uninspiring in much the way singing can be.

Many people will be alarmed at the idea of freely improvising with their singing voices for the simple yet powerful belief that they do not consider themselves singers in the first place. While it cannot be denied that some possess more natural singing voices than others or that professional singers will have more developed instruments than beginners singing is not exclusive, nor should it ever have become so. Singing serves different functions for different people.

As for improvisation, it guides a developed singer to the outer limits of their current technical and expressive ability. At the other end of the scale it puts a beginner singer in immediate, unedited contact with their singing voice, always an exciting moment! Many of my on-line and studio students are terrified at the idea of improvising but once they start they are hooked, always surprising themselves with their ability to be so creative with their voices. They become all-round more confident singers.

Vocal improvisation is an important touchstone and release for singers of all levels of experience because it directly taps the hidden worlds of poetry, life experience and expression within each of us. And no question about it – your vocal world is unique and unrepeatable by anyone else on the planet. Improvisation also teaches us to be absolutely in the moment – because there is truly nowhere else you can be if you are just following your voice where it wants to take you, right now.

Improvisation has many benefits but to name a few:

• Very good for singers of jazz or pop repertoire – it helps you to find your original sound (do you really want to remain a karaoke imitator – didn’t think so!)
• A good way to let of steam, to release and to practice being ‘in the now’ which is where all the best music happens.
• Improvisation helps you put into practice where your voice is now, i.e. technically and expressively and this in turn helps you identify areas you need to work on.

Should your motivation be curiosity, cultivation or confidence-building playing with your voice can truly be a revelation. Incidentally, the Greek word for improvisation is ‘aftoskediasmos‘ which translates as ‘self-designing’. I think that says it all!

Here are a few simple exercises to get you going:

1. Start with a few rules – for example choose three or four notes to play with, maybe a phrase from a favourite song.
2. Sing your chosen phrase several times, limbering your voice into the singing,
3. Start to play with your phrase, see where it wants to go. There are no rules here and if you hit a ‘bum’ note don’t worry – just move on!
4. Start adding ingredients such as different dynamics (quiet, loud) and tempi (faster, slower) to your phrase. Maybe play with whispering the phrase, or repeating one word or trying out different vocal colours in the phrase. Anything goes.
5. From this point build up a free improvisation based around your chose phrase or notes. If you get lost come back to the original musical idea and take off in a different direction. If you feel you are getting stuck in a rut consciously add another ingredient (dynamics, tempi, colour) to help your voice move in another direction.
6. When you are ready try recording yourself and listening back. Learn the art of being objective. Hear what is good and interesting in your voice as well as the areas you feel you can improve.

To name but a few from popular music inspiring vocal improvisers include Bobby McFerrin Christina Aguilera and Ella Fitzgerald. Meredith Monk and Cathy Berberian are great examples from experimental/ classical music.

Get your on-line vocal evaluation and lessons by professional voice coaches online at our site www.singshop.co.uk. Check out the ‘Student Profiles’ and free ‘Weekly Tip’ while you are there.

Most People Don’t Understand the Stress of Being a Singer

A couple weeks ago, R&B singer Alicia Keys was forced to cancel a performance in Cleveland, OH. The show was scheduled to take pla ce on April 26th before Keys decided to cancel. Earlier last week, Keys canceled another show. That one was supposed to be held in Pittsburgh, PA.

Why did she cancel, you might ask? Keys was suffering from swollen vocal chords, making it impossible for her to sing.

Of course, Keys isn’t the only one that has suffered from swollen vocal chords. Former aAmerican Idola winner and current pop star Jordin Sparks suffered a similar problem recently. Ironically, Sparks was the opening act on Alicia Keys’ tour. She was forced to miss several shows because of her illness.

Most people see concerts or watch artists perform on TV, and don’t realize the enormous pressures of being a singer. It seems like a glamorous life, because as a viewer, you’re only seeing this person for five minutes as they sing on aSaturday Night Livea or aLettermana or aGood Morning America.a But the effort that goes into those five minutes is incredible. Singers are constantly singing. They do tons of interviews and performances. You just never see/hear most of them because they’re on programs you don’t watch, or confined to certain markets where you don’t live. Singers go on tour and perform 2-hour sets every night for months straight. That’s two straight hours of intense singing, because after all, they want to give their best effort every night. When they aren’t on stage, they often doing vocal warm-ups backstage. Warm-ups don’t require the energy of a live performance, but they do add to the constant tension on one’s vocal chords. It’s something that’s hard to imagine if you haven’t been there.
And it’s not just singing. We all know that the keys to being healthy are getting proper rest and maintaining a low-stress lifestyle. Neither of these things come to fruition when you live the life of a pop star. Between practice, recording, press and performances, singers are often putting in 12-hour days. It’s not uncommon for a huge pop star to get only a couple hours of sleep a night, which is devastating on the vocal chords. And then of course we’ve all heard about the partying that goes on. But even without the partying, there are constant stress factors that affect a singer’s health.

That’s why you see this sort of thing all the time. It’s not just Alicia Keys and Jordin Sparks. Bono of U2, a veteran who’s been doing this almost 30 years, still has to use an oxygen tank and try not to talk on U2′s off-days. Chester Bennington of Linkin Park, known for having one of the most intense and loudest voices on the planet, has spent his share of time in the hospital. Nearly everyone who has worked as a singer has suffered a vocal chord injury of illness at some point.

So if you’re one of the people who was supposed to see Alicia Keys, only to have it canceled, you’re probably upset. Try to see it from the singer’s standpoint. They need to rest those vocal chords in order to give great performances. After all, a singer can’t survive off ringtones alone.

Is it possible to teach yourself how to sing? Definitely yes. You wouldn’t believe how many people who are singers today were self-taught. The fact is that lessons from an experienced instructor can be very expensive and can cost you hundreds, or even thousands of dollars over time.

With good instructions, you can teach yourself how to sing incredibly well and with today’s advanced technology you can easily learn and practice singing using online programs. It’s a lot easier than you might think.

Singing is not a talent or a gift that you are born with. If you can talk, you can sing! And if you already sing well, you can certainly sing better! It’s all about technique. Good singing is a skill – one almost anyone can learn.

The first thing to understand when learning how to sing is that your vocal apparatus (the source of your voice) is not contained in your throat. It is not just one organ, but a complex system composed of many parts: the torso, the neck, the head, the nose, lips, tongue, teeth, hard and soft palates, uvula, larynx, lungs, diaphragm, etc. In fact, you use your entire body when you sing.
You have to understand that your body has muscles that can be developed in the similar way athletes train their muscles. Learning how to sing is similar to learning a sport, you have to train and practice to get better. You have to learn the proper singing techniques such as proper breathing, finding your pitch, air flow, projection, breath control, phrasing and off course music theory. For all that you need some kind of coaching.

We all know that finding a good vocal coach can be a little tricky, but nowadays it is no longer necessary to hire an expensive singing teacher. A very inexpensive solution are a few quality singing courses that are available online.

This singing programs can really help you develop your voice. Be warned though that many out there are just rubbish with outdated or useless information, so be careful which one you choose. What’s also great with this lessons is that you can learn at your own pace on your own schedule and in the privacy of your own home.

Remember, there is a right way and a wrong way to approach singing. Take your time and learn the right way. Your audience will be thankful.

A Few Simple Vocal Exercises For Improving Your Singing

Exercising your throat regularly is important for improving your voice regardless of where you want to use your skills in a kara oke bar, church choir or on stage. It is not true that only beginners need singing lessons accomplished singers and natural singers need them as well. The following vocal exercises will help you to hone your skills.

Always start with warm up exercises to condition the throat for more strenuous activity. Both voice related and breathing exercises should form a part of your warm-up session. To begin with take a deep breath. This can be done by inhaling deeply and holding your breath to the count of four and then exhale, once again hold to the count of four before breathing in again. Another exercise involves inhaling normally but when you exhale do it on the sound of ‘sshh’, like you are asking a kid to keep quiet. Use your entire breath to make the sound and once you have let out all the air relax and breathe normally. Do this exercise 5 times.

The breathing exercises should be followed by vocal exercises that will condition the throat muscles and vocal chords. Start with the first exercise called motorboat where you will make a sound like a motorboat. Make the sound by putting your lips together and exhale to make the sound by flapping your lips. This exercise is used to loosen the vocal chord and condition the throat muscles. After you have done the exercise for some time try to vary the notes while making the sound.

In the second exercise start b singing the notes of the mid range octave and once you are comfortable sing the notes in the ascending and descending order. Use a vowel sound like ‘aah’ and start singing from the lower notes going higher and then coming down again.

To conclude do some cool down exercises. It is important that you always remember to finish with the cool down exercises. After you exercise your throat the blood flow to the larynx increases. The blood accumulated in the larynx will stay there if you don’t do the vocal cool down exercises causing swelling in the vocal chord. If you try to speak in this condition there are string chances that you may damage the vocal chord. This makes vocal cool down exercises crucial and a good exercise is gently humming at a lazy pace.

5 Tips to Help you Learn to Sing

This article will give you helpful tips to help you learn to sing. These tips will teach you more about the proper way to sing and will help you get the most out of your voice! To learn more Click Here

#1 To learn to sing the correct way, you need to learn diaphragmatic breathing. Diaphragmatic breathing is the foundation of singing. When you breathe, your shoulders shouldn’t rise and should stay relaxed. Fill the lower portion of your lungs with air and pretend you have a big balloon tied around your waist that you are filling. This kind of breathing will give your singing much more power than clavicular breathing, which is the incorrect way to breathe.
#2 Before people learn to sing, they sometimes don’t realize how essential it is to warm up your voice before you perform. Just as athletes warm-up before athletic activities to prevent injuries, singers should warm-up as well to prevent vocal injuries. When you warm-up, you should begin gently and sing in both your high and low ranges.

#3 Don’t yell, smoke, drink ice-cold water or alcohol. These things are not good for your voice.

#4 Don’t sing an entire song with the same volume and speed all the way through. Dynamics will make your song much more interesting. Before you perform, decide what parts of the song you want to sing quieter and what parts you want to sing louder and where you want to crescendo and decrescendo. You should also decide if you want to change tempos or ritardando at a certain place in the song.

#5 If you want to learn to sing, you need to know that good stage presence is important! Even if you have a great technique and great voice, you need to be able to asella the song you sing. Use facial expressions. You should also come across as confident, even if you don’t feel it. Remember most performers get nervous: the trick is to apretenda to be confident and learn how to work through your nerves. If you make a mistake, pretend it didn’t happen and keep going. It’s not a big deal. Most likely the audience didn’t know you made a mistake anyway! Click Here